


The past is overrated

by Learn_From_Yesterday



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Annoying Parents, Bacon, Dancing Alec Lightwood, Fluff, Healing, Lazy Mornings, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pain, Post-Episode: s01e12 Malec, Siblings, Teasing, Worried Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-03 03:06:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11523228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Learn_From_Yesterday/pseuds/Learn_From_Yesterday
Summary: Magnus is speechless, he’s too captured by what’s happening in front of him. Alec is bloody and limp, barely able to keep his eyes open. Jace painfully sits him down on the couch.Magnus finally snaps out of it and shudders: “What the hell happened?”Magnus and Alec love spending mornings together, but somehow, they're always interrupted. Sadly, this interruption will cost them more than usual.





	1. Burnt Bacon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tasted bacon for the first time a few weeks ago, so I felt the need to feature it in this story. Enjoy!

The sun was filling the room, that was a sign he should get off his stomach and wake up, but Magnus was just so cozy in his satin sheets. He turned his head and reached out, slowly rising his tired eyes. To his surprise, the right side of the bed was empty.

He lifted his head to look around, hoping to find beautiful hazel eyes, but the room was also empty.

“Alexander?”, he called out sleepily.

It wasn’t like Alec to leave without telling him. He got up gradually, reaching for his phone to see if he got a text. Nothing. The alarming blank of his phone screen caused an eerie chill to creep up his back.  _This is not the right way to start a morning_. His heartrate quickened, but settled a few seconds later when he heard the sound of pots and pans clanging in the kitchen. He wrinkled his nose in confusion as the smell of bacon reached his nose.

 _Delicious_ , Magnus chuckled to himself, feeling foolish for worrying about Alec when he was just in the kitchen. He put on some sweatpants and took off to the kitchen, anticipating the good morning kiss he would get. Magnus really wanted to greet his boyfriend, but the sight in front of his eyes was too pleasing to interrupt. Alec had his back to Magnus and was moving his hips as he flipped the bacon in the pan. The music in his ears was so loud that he didn’t even notice Magnus approaching. Feeling lucky, Magnus couldn’t help but look down at his lover’s ass. He placed his hands in Alec's back pockets and kissed the back of his neck. Alec jumped and took a step back, yanking his headphones out, and stammering “Oh, Magnus! How long you’ve been standing here?”

“Just long enough.” Magnus answered, approaching his boyfriend.  _Just the words to make Alec turn bright red._  Magnus leaned in close to Alec and looked into his hazel eyes. “Good morning”, he said tenderly. “I was worried when I woke up alone. You know waking in you arms is an essential part of my morning routine.” Magnus finally greeted Alec with a kiss.

“I wanted to make you breakfast,” Alec replied and pushed his lips against his boyfriend’s once again. Just as the kiss deepened, Alec jumped and turned around. “The bacon!”

It was too late, their breakfast was already burnt.

Alec smiled apologetically at Magnus. “I guess I’ll make some more.”

“That’s fine. Take your time. I’ll just sit down over there and try not to distract you this time,” he said teasingly.

 

When breakfast was finally ready, and edible this time, Alec placed a plate in front of Magnus and a kiss on his forehead. “Breakfast is served,” he said sitting down next to him.

“Well, thank you for the nice surprise.” Magnus took a bite of his breakfast. “Even if we both know that this wasn’t exactly for me…” He said raising his eyebrow.

“What?” Alec took a brief pause to clear his throat. “Of course, it’s for you.”

Magnus chuckled. “Yes, of course. It has nothing to do with your parents arriving at the institute right this moment.” He said sarcastically.

“Ok, maybe I don’t want to go back to the institute right now. But I wanted to cook you breakfast to repay you for all the times you’ve done the same for me. We could’ve taken part in other time consuming activities to pass the time, but I chose this nice gesture,” he stated pointing to his plate.

“Other time consuming activities, you say? Hmm, like what?” Magnus said seductively.

“Yeah, like cleaning the loft, playing Scrabble, working out…. Stuff like that.” Alec answered slowly approaching Magnus’ face.

“Working out… Well you know what’s a great workout?”

Already understanding his boyfriend’s allusion, Alec nodded and kissed his boyfriend. He let go of his fork and cupped Magnus’ face. Magnus placed his hand on his boyfriend lap and embedded his leg between his boyfriend’s. Seconds later, a phone rang. Alec hesitantly broke the kiss to look at his phone and answered the call.

“Hey Izzy. Little busy at the moment. What is it?”

Magnus, not ready to abandon the mood, placed soft kisses along his boyfriend’s neck while he was listening to his sister talk on the phone.

“Okay. I’ll be right there.” Alec finished the call.

Magnus moves away, disappointed. “A mission?”, he asked.

“Yeah,” he answered apologetically.

“It’s okay. I have some work to do anyway.”

Alec laid one last kiss on Magnus’ lips and got up.

“I’m sad to see you go Shadowhunter, so you better come back quickly so we can finish what we started.”

“I’ll be back before you know it!”, he said with a wink.

 

 

A few hours later, Magnus was on a call with a client when his phone kept buzzing. He saw it was Izzy and let her call go to voicemail since he was almost done with this client. Magnus rolled his eyes and thought:  _he never stops speaking_.

“Yes, I’ll send the bill right away.” He said hoping to shut the client up.

Magnus finally hung up and immediately started looking for Izzy’s contact on his phone. Before he had the chance to press “call”, she burst through his door, followed by Jace practically carrying his parabatai by the waist.

“Why aren’t you answering the phone?!”, yelled Izzy.

Magnus was speechless, he was too captured by what was happening in front of him. Alec was bloody and limp, barely able to keep his eyes open. Jace painfully sat him down on the couch.

Magnus finally snapped out of it and shuddered: “What the hell happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the beginning of this story. Comments are the best, so please leave some! Will be updated soon.


	2. Persistent Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There so much blood, I can barely tell where it’s all coming from.” 
> 
> Magnus and Alec's siblings are working hard to save him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning to some squeamish readers, there’s a some injury description and pain coming up. Enjoy! :)

 “There so much blood, I can barely tell where it’s all coming from.” Izzy said as she helped lay her brother down on the couch.

Jace turned to Magnus with the most distraught look he’d ever seen on the young shadowhunter. “We tried an _iratze_ but it did nothing,” he explained. His usual cockiness had left Jace, all that was left was a horrified brother.

When Izzy took Alec’s bloody shirt off, they all tensed up, but the biggest reaction came from Jace who pulled away at the sight of his parabatai’s abdomen. There was a gaping wound across his pale stomach. The cut seemed so deep that you’d think you could see his guts. In reality, the gash wasn’t as deep as the torn flesh and dark blood made it seem.

 Magnus tried to absorb the blood with a towel to get a better look at the injury, but as soon as the fabric touched Alec’s skin, he cried out in pain. It was immensely challenging for Magnus to see his boyfriend in such agonizing pain, but he knew he had to act fast.

“This laceration wasn’t caused by a weapon.” He observed.

“No, it was warlock magic. Someone had just called in some unusual activity near Brooklyn Heights Promenade, so we went to check it out,” Izzy answered. “It was a pretty routine patrol, we didn’t expect to be attacked…”

He cut her off, “The only thing that matters now is getting this bleeding under control.”

Jace still couldn’t manage to look at his parabatai’s mutilated body. Instead, he stood with his back to the horrific display, protectively holding his own stomach.

“Jace, I know it’s hard and I know it hurts you too, but you have to help him through this.” Izzy implored her adoptive brother.

Jace finally glanced at Alec. He took a big breath and held Alec’s trembling hand. He tried to speak to Alec, to reassure him, but Alec was barely holding on to consciousness.

“I should be able to close the wound,” Magnus comforted.

He snapped his fingers to summon enough power to save Alec. He poured his energy into Alec’s abdomen to close the gash. As his fingers danced over the wound, the gap in his gut narrowed until the cut was sealed.

A few minutes passed and the colour in his cheeks was already coming back. A wave of relief came over the three of them and Magnus could finally utter words: “He should rest but I think he’ll be okay.”

“Thank the angel,” Jace said.

“We should still give him a blood transfusion. He lost a lot of blood,” Izzy said.

“I’ll go call Rafael and see if he can get me some blood. Could you bandage his wound?”, Magnus told Izzy while reaching for his phone.

 “Wouldn’t it be faster to just summon some blood?”, Jace asked incredulously.

“My magic is a little low after this. Opening up a portal now would be quite difficult. He’s well enough to wait a few more minutes,” he said caressing Alec’s face.

 

Magnus was in the other room explaining the situation to his loyal friend Rafael. Rafael obviously accepted to help his friend and to bring him some O neg immediately.

Magnus was relieved and hung up the phone, when Izzy called out for him. “Magnus! It didn’t work.”

Magnus ran back to the living room.

“How? He was fine a minute ago,” Magnus said frantically.

“We bandaged his abdomen, but there’s still blood dripping to the floor... A lot of blood,” Jace explained.

“Where is it coming from?” Magnus said while looking around. As they moved him to find the source of the bleeding, Alec opened his eyes.

“Alexander, tell me where it hurts.” Magnus asked.

Alec moaned in pain, he was looking at the ceiling, as if he couldn’t focus on the things in front of him, as if he couldn’t find Magnus’ eyes to tether him to reality.

“I can feel him slipping through the bond. I think the pain is too much for him,” Jace winced.

Magnus took Alec’s head between his hands and looked directly into his eyes.

“I need you to focus Alexander. You have to tell me where it hurts.”

Alec couldn’t do anything but groan.

“I don’t think he’ll be able to help us in this state. You should just put him to sleep Magnus,” Izzy said.

“You’re right.” Magnus looked down for a second, trying to center his terrifying thoughts. He took a deep breath and got to work. He put Alec to sleep and spared him the pain of his ripped skin. They took off his pants and found multiple small lacerations on his thigh. These cuts were shorter but deeper than the other one. Blood was gushing out of the wounds and flowing down his legs to the floor.

Once again, Magnus healed Alec’s wounds. He managed to stop the bleeding and Alec’s condition seemed under control.

“I think we’re good this time. Rafael is coming with the blood, so everything will be fine,” he stated. Finally able to breathe again, he looked at his boyfriend’s siblings and asked: “How did this happen?”

“Like I said, we were on patrol and a call came in saying some unauthorized portals were being opened and that they needed help. The call wasn’t threatening. We just thought some warlocks were showing off in public. But when we got there, there was only one warlock. He attacked us all immediately, but It seemed like he was targeting Alec,” Izzy explained.

“Definitely! It was too well executed to be random, it’s like he knew we were coming,” Jace added.

“He might not have known that you were the one who would respond, but one thing’s for sure: He knew Nephilim were coming,” Magnus said.

“What makes you so sure?”, Izzy asked curiously.

 “The _iratze_ didn’t work. The warlock must have made it so only demonic magic can undo his work. Which is why my magic was able to heal Alexander.”

Magnus spoke too fast because just a second later, Alec was screaming again. When they looked back, the bandage on his abdomen was soaked in blood.

“Magnus, do something!”, Jace screamed. For the third time this evening, Magnus poured his magic into Alec and closed his wounds.

Magnus looked defeated. He couldn’t figure out why Alec kept bleeding out. He approached his boyfriend and gently placed his hands on his ashen cheek to wipe away the sweat. Magnus was stunned by the contrast between the sensation in each of his hands: in one, he felt Alec’s burning face and in the other, his icy cold fingers.

 Suddenly, Magnus stood up.

 “How could I not have seen this?”, he muttered to himself.

“Seen what?”, Jace asked.

But Magnus didn’t have time to answer, he was already running towards his bedroom. Seconds later, he came out of the room with a book in his hands, his book of counterspells.

“I know what’s wrong. I know because it’s my spell,” he said while desperately going through the pages of his book.

“The spell basically takes away all healing abilities. Alec can’t heal, no matter what magic we use. He’s destined to bleed out unless we reverse the spell,” he explained.

“That’s why he keeps bleeding out,” Izzy concluded.

For the last time, he poured his blue energy into his unconscious boyfriend. He snapped his fingers to gather more power and waved his hands across Alec’s body. As Magnus pronounced an incantation in a language Izzy and Jace didn’t understand, Alec’s body quivered to the rhythm of Magnus’ beating heart. He was responding to the spell, shaking faster and faster until all they could see was a blurry glow. Suddenly, a burst of energy was released through the loft.

Magnus collapsed to his knees and dropped the book to the floor. Satisfied with his work, he smiled. This didn’t last long however as the gravity of what just happened finally caught up to him.

He almost lost Alexander tonight.

 

Magnus was drained of energy, but he couldn’t lay down. He had to stay here in case Alec’s state declined.

“Magnus, are you okay?”, Jace worried.

“I don’t know, but I don’t really care. All that matters right now is that Alec is okay.”

“When will we know if he’s really cured?”, Izzy asked.

“It’s just a question of time. We just have to see if he bleeds out again this time.”

“Magnus,” Izzy whispered, “you should go rest.”

“No, I can’t. I need to be here in case…. In case his state changes.” Even as he said that, his eyes were struggling to stay opened.

“You won’t be much help if you can’t even stand up. We can come get you if we need anything. I promise.” Izzy said.

“No, I... I need to clean up”, Magnus protested.

“Don’t worry about that, we can take care of it,” Izzy assured him.

Jace shot her a look saying _Me? Cleaning?_ Izzy responded by kicking her brother’s shin.

Jace cleared his throat, “Yeah of course Magnus, we can clean up.”

“Maybe I can just close my eyes a bit right here.” He sat down on the armchair and covered himself with a blanket.

“I guess that’s as close to rest as we’ll get,” Jace said.

“It’s better than nothing. I’ll take the compromise,” Izzy settled.

“Just remember to put away the spell book,” Magnus muttered sleepily.

Jace bent down to pick up the book in question but then rose back up: “The book is gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this took a while, I’m new at writing for other people than myself. Please leave comments, I'm sure they'll help me improve! Will be updated soon.


	3. Pissed-off Parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec, his siblings and his boyfriend are dealing with the aftermath of the attack in a loving and comforting away, until his parents show up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is before Maryse’s recent character development from the show. The Lightwood parents are still very much against their son’s relationship. Enjoy!

Magnus opened his eyes in a panic. “Alexander!” His first instinct was to look over to the couch next to him, but there was no sign of Alec, or anyone else for that matter. Immediately, he rose from the armchair, too quickly. As soon as he was up on his feet, everything around him became dark. His head was spinning and his heart was racing. He would’ve fallen to the ground if someone hadn’t grabbed his shoulders. He opened his eyes again. _Jace_. “Where’s Alec?”

“Woah there Magnus. You okay?” Jace said as he helped Magnus stabilize his balance.

“I’m fine. Where is he?”

“We just moved him to the bedroom. We thought he’d be more comfortable there.”

Magnus was suddenly able to breathe again. _I really need to stop freaking out every time I wake up without him._ “How long have I been out?”

Izzy came back in the living room with a stride in her step and a smile on her face. “It’s been a couple hours. He still hasn’t bled. I think it’s safe to say it worked,” she reassured him.

“Thank the Angel.” Jace said.

“You mean, Thank Magnus," Izzy smiled and put her hand on Magnus’ shoulder. "Rafael came by when you were asleep and took care of the blood transfusion. The color is back in his cheeks. He seems to be doing much better.”

“Great!” For the first time since the Lightwoods stumbled into his apartment, Magnus was able to smile. A few hours ago, he never would’ve expected such a good outcome. He headed towards the bedroom, excited to see his boyfriend far from the verge of death.

“Don’t rejoice too fast Magnus. There’s something wrong,” Jace said.

Magnus came to a sudden stop right in front of the bedroom door, afraid to turn the nob, but also afraid to look at Jace who was about to deliver the bad news.

“We can’t find your spell book,” Izzy said.

Magnus turned around. He felt the need to look at their faces to make sure they weren’t joking. They couldn’t possibly have said what he thought they said. “What?”

“We couldn’t find it anywhere,” Jace said with slumped shoulders.

Magnus took a step forward and looked Jace straight in the eye. “So you’re telling me that I fall asleep for a few hours and you manage to lose one of my most treasured possessions?”

“How is this my fault?” Jace’s high-pitched voice showed he took offense in the accusation.

“Well, I’ve had this book for centuries and I’ve never lost it. I trust you for a few hours to put it away and it’s gone. No wonder you keep losing the mortal instruments!” he snarked.

Before Jace got the chance to answer with something witty, a small voice came out of the bedroom: “Magnus?”

Still affected by the earlier effort, Magnus waddled to the bedroom and all his attention now belonged to Alec.

“I’m right here Love.” He sat on the side of the bed and took his hand.

Alec looked around and finally noticed his siblings. “Jace, Izzy.”

“We’re here Alec, everything is okay,” Jace said. Both siblings approached their brother and showered him with comfort.

“What happened?” Alec rubbed his eyes and sat up with the help of his sister.

“You got hurt as usual.” Jace answered teasingly. “You should really spend less time in Magnus’ bed and more time in the training room.” He winked at his parabatai and put a reassuring hand on his leg. His efforts granted him a small smile from Alec.

 _What a change from Jace’s previous behaviour,_ Magnus thought. _A few hours ago, he could barely look at Alec, let alone make jokes about him._

Izzy spoke up, visibly the only one in the room interested in answering Alec’s questions. “How much do you remember?”

“I remember being in Brooklyn Heights, and being attacked by a warlock and then…” Alec was furrowing his eyebrows, like if he squinted enough, the memories would come back. “I remember Jace activating my iratze. But… that’s pretty much it.”

“That iratze didn’t work. So we brought you to Magnus’. You kept bleeding out because of a spell that warlock cast, but Magnus’ figured it out and saved you,” the smile she gave Magnus was filled with gratitude.

Magnus looked down, disappointed in himself: “It took me longer to figure it out than it should’ve. We almost lost you a couple times.”

Alec squeezed Magnus’ hand. “But you didn’t. I’m alive. You saved me, again.”

Magnus looked up, “Always,” he promised.

Jace interrupted their little moment, “You know Magnus, you weren’t the only one taken by surprise. We should’ve been more prepared for that patrol.”

“Yes, but we couldn’t have known we’d be targeted. We thought it was random,” Izzy added.

“Wait, what do you mean “targeted”?” Alec asked.

“This warlock used my spell and attacked my boyfriend, this can’t be a coincidence.”

“Do you have any idea who could be coming after you?” Izzy asked Magnus.

“Darling, you don’t become the High Warlock of Brooklyn without making enemies.”

“Surely, you must have a few names in mind.”

“If Magnus gave us the names of every warlock who holds a grudge against him, we’d still be here tomorrow,” Jace said.

“True, but not everyone of them know about this spell. I’d have to think about it, but I can find who’s responsible for this. I _will_ find who’s responsible for this,” he declared looking at Alec.

There was a chilling silence after that promise. They all knew Magnus meant this and more through his unspoken words.

Izzy broke the brief silence: “You will have to take it slow for the next couple of days Alec. We gave you a blood transfusion, but you lost a ton of blood, so you probably shouldn’t try to stand for a few hours.” She turned to Magnus, “What do you think?”

“I agree. The spell exhausted his healing mechanism, he should really get some rest.”

“He’s not the only one who needs some rest.” Jace said hinting towards Magnus.

“I’m fine.” He smiled at Alec, “Actually, I’m fantastic.”

“Ok. Well, now that everything is under control, I think we should get going,” Izzy announced. “We have to report to the institute and gather the intel we have on the warlock that cast this spell to help you find him.”

“Do you think he’s well enough to bring him back to the institute?” Jace asked Magnus.

Izzy shot him an intimidating stare.

“I guess not.” Jace said sheepishly.

“I can’t barely get my arm up, I don’t think I’m leaving here anytime soon.” Alec chuckled.

“He’s just saying that to avoid going to the institute.” Magnus said.

“Not at all,” he said defensively.

“You know, death is not the best way to avoid your parents,” Magnus smirked.

Laughter filled the room and lightness was finally felt in the air.

It didn’t last long because seconds after Maryse and Robert Lightwood walked through the front door. “Alec?”

“Speak of the devil,” Magnus murmured.

“I thought you wards kept newcomers from entering,” Izzy said.

“They do... My wards must be down as an aftermath of the healing magic.”

He looked at Alec, “I’m sure if we stay silent, they’ll leave soon enough.”

Alec chuckled but gave him a scolding look.

Magnus took a big breath and opened the bedroom door. “Maryse, Robert, wonderful to see you again.”

He invited them inside the bedroom with the best smile he could manage, which wasn’t as genuine as he’d hoped. The parents coldly passed through the door without giving Magnus a single look.

“Alec…” there was a hint of motherly concern in Maryse’s eyes.

“I’m fine Mom,” he assured, “thanks to Magnus.”

That hint of motherhood quickly left and the Clave representative was back. She looked at her other children, “What were you thinking? He should be in the institute’s care—”

 “We’ve determined that he’s not well enough to move him,” Izzy explained.

“Why did you bring him here in the first place? The institute has an infirmary for a reason. They are perfectly capable of taking care of our own. We don’t need a warlock meddling in shadowhunter business. Not to mention, he’s not even a healer—”

“He saved my life.” Alec interrupted. “Show him some respect.”

Maryse was stunned. Jace was stunned. Everyone was stunned.

Magnus was charmed by Alec’s growth. At the beginning of their relationship, he didn’t want to say anything that would displease his parents and now he was defending him to them.

Even with that comment, the Lightwoods still hadn’t acknowledged his presence.

After a silence that took longer that it should, Maryse started up again. “Obviously, I’m grateful that you’re okay. I would just appreciate it if we occasionally followed the rules in this family,” she said with a forceful smile.

“Look, Alec was attacked by warlock magic, we just thought it would be easier to bring him to another warlock, and Magnus was the closest.”

“That is not the protocol,” Robert explained.

“Yes, but runic magic wasn’t working. We were just trying to do what’s best for Alec,” Izzy clarified.

Alec tried to get up and defend his siblings’ actions, but he only managed to groan when his feet hit the floor.

“You just rest Alec. We’ll take care of everything,” Maryse told him.

Alec seemed to want protest but he was too weak to do so. Instead, he just closed his eyes.

In spite of the way he was being treated, Magnus spoke up, “I really don’t think we should move him at the moment.”

“When do _you_ think he’ll be able to move?”, Robert asked skeptically.

“I would say a couple of hours.” It took everything in Magnus’ power not to talk back.

“Ok. We’ll be back at the institute. I expect to see you both there in 2 hours,” he concluded.

“Your wish is my command,” Magnus replied.

 

After what seemed like a century, the Lightwoods left. As soon as they closed the door, Magnus let out a breath of air he didn’t know he was holding. Now, all he wanted to do was to lie next to Alec.

When he came back to the bedroom, Alec was still asleep. He was finally able to unwind after the events of the last interminable hours. He lied down next to his boyfriend, but he couldn’t close his eyes. He was too afraid that Alec would be gone when he’d open them back up. For now, he was content with just watching him sleep and listening to his little snores.

An hour or so later, Alec woke up. Magnus was happy to see these hazel eyes again. “Hey sleepyhead,” he greeted Alec.

Alec kissed Magnus, sweet and innocent at first, but all the feelings from the recent events amassed to create an urgency in the kiss. Suddenly, Alec pulled away. “Wait, my parents aren’t still here are they?”

“Fortunately, no!”, Magnus answered with a smile.

“Now do you understand why I’d chose death over dealing with my parents?”

Magnus stopped smiling. “You shouldn’t joke around with that,” he looked down. “I was really scared you know?”

“There’s no reason to be scared.” Alec took Magnus in his arms, “I’m fine now, thanks to you.”

“Yeah, for now. But you’re a shadowhunter. You’ll always get in trouble and I might not always be here.” He shook his head, trying to chase the bad thoughts away.

“Hey” He took Magnus’ face in his hands. “You don’t know that. You’re the one who told me you couldn’t tell the future.”

“Yes, but I know someday you’ll be gone. I just… I don’t want you to leave me too early.”

“I won’t,” he promised with a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love comments and kudos, so keep 'em coming! :)


End file.
